I Became A Mech Soldier After Waking Up in The Future.

Among the ten non-commissioned officers who were following Keiko into the cave, most of them were unknown to her, and only Antonio was familiar with her.

She didn't expect that Antonio would be specially recruited for such a dangerous mission, which meant that, in Captain Amanda's eyes, he could be regarded as one of the best and most trustworthy non-commissioned officers in the Third Squadron. Otherwise, he would never have been allowed to come.

Unlike a commissioned officer whose rank was at least a lieutenant, a non-commissioned officer started at the enlisted level, so there was a gaping difference between the benefits and the power in their hand.

The highest level of a non-commissioned officer is the sergeant major. Before Keiko came to this world, she was a soldier of this rank in the army.

Unless one achieves great military merit, like the Ernesto First Class Merit that Keiko had achieved, getting promoted from sergeant major to lieutenant, or in other words, from a non-commissioned officer to a commission officer, was harder than a carp leaping through a dragon gate.

Unfortunately, such merit wasn't a Chinese cabbage, more so if you didn't have a background like an Academy Alumni or a descendant of Federal Higher Ups.

Keiko could be regarded as one of the few that were lucky enough to obtain these rewards.

Non-commissioned officers are generally summarized as veterans with skilled combat knowledge and skills, more so as elite non-commissioned officers.

By chance, Antonio was actually an elite non-commissioned officer. It could be said that in the future, it is possible to accumulate military merit and be officially promoted to the rank of officer.

"Second lieutenant, what should we do next?" Antonio stood beside Keiko, looking down at the deep crack with her. 

"Prepare the climbing device, we will go down in two batches," Keiko's order rang in all the soldiers' ears.

"Affirmative." 

The so-called climbing device consisted of several rock-climbing equipments used uniformly in the army.

They were usually attached to the forearm and sole of the exosuit and could be taken out for use when necessary.

In this way, the need for ropes for climbing could be decreased, which is safer and easier to climb.

Of course, some terrain still required ropes to climb; in that case, the belt of the exosuit was also equipped with a hook wire and a winch. 

As the commander, Keiko took the lead and climbed down together with the other four non-commissioned officers, leaving Antonio and the remaining five non-commissioned officers behind.

The cracked surface was relatively easy to climb, and when coupled with the climbing tools at their disposal, the soldiers could descend the cliff very quickly.

The climbing tool in Keiko's hand was a suction cup with barbs, with a handle on it for easy gripping.

Simply place the handle on the rock wall and press the button on the outside; barbs will protrude from the inside, drilling into the rock wall and hooking it firmly.

When the button was pressed a second time, the hook will be retracted easily. 

The studs on the feet could be deeply penetrated by simply kicking hard against the rock wall, and it was not difficult to recover, as long as the movements were right.

In addition, the hooks could be replaced with powerful suction cups and magnets, making it possible to climb any wall vertically. 

This section of the rock wall wasn't very deep, only about 20 meters.

Keiko put away the climbing tools and surveyed the surrounding environment silently. This was an urn-shaped cave, and there should have been no passages in it. The only exit was the cracked rock wall they came down from.

The entrance to the cave was narrow, but inside it was open and spacious. The walls and floor were very puddled and wet, and it had the feel of a stalactite cave. But the geology here was clearly not a karst landscape.

Judging from the liquid left on the wall and the ground, it is probably caused by the corrosion of the venom secreted by the scorpion predators themselves.

Keiko did not act rashly and waited for the rest of the four non-commissioned officers to come down before she gave the first order. 

"Everyone is on standby beside the rock wall, I'll go check the situation first, and come back soon." 

Everyone was a little surprised. It was rare to see an officer who willingly rushed to the front line to be the vanguard like this. Furthermore, she volunteered herself to do it.

This action significantly increased their impression of their temporary commander. But still, it was quite reckless of her to charge forward alone when monsters were waiting inside.

But an order is an order, and they have no objection to it and will obey it. 

Keiko crouched like a civet cat and walked silently against the wall. She advanced carefully, and with the help of night vision goggles, she could see the situation inside relatively clearly.

She could see an ugly monster coiled up in the cave, seemingly sleeping. It has a relatively huge body, and its head and tail are extremely long. Especially the long tail is extremely terrifying, with a huge sting on its end. 

She couldn't describe what she saw with words. The monster seemed like a failed experiment between a scorpion and a human, with four limbs and a pair of menacing pincers.

Keiko could only see the side and the rear of the predator, but its bulging belly was an obvious sign that it was about to lay its eggs.

Predators are mostly infertile and have no reproductive organs. Most of them rely on infecting humans to expand their numbers.

But there are exceptions.

The Scorpii was one of the rare species of predator that relied on sexual reproduction to grow their population.

Just like most of the insectoid family, after the male scorpion-shaped predator mated with the female scorpion-shaped predator, it would voluntarily die in the claws of the female scorpion-shaped predator to provide nourishment for the female scorpion.

Then, from maturing to finally laying the eggs, all procedures were completed by the female scorpion alone. 

However, although scorpion predators could reproduce sexually, their birth rate was very low, and their overall population was far less than the predators that relied on infecting humans to expand their numbers.

It was because the Scorpii hatchlings had been fighting for their survival even before they were born.

When they were still inside the eggs, they will compete with their brethren for nutrients. The one who could absorb more nutrients would grow splendidly, and the one who lost the competition would perish.

After they matured and finally broke out of their eggs, they would fight each other and try to devour each other until only one Scorpii was left.

Because of this phenomenon, the Scorpii have very strong individual fighting and predation abilities, and their personalities are also extremely violent and cruel. 

In the corner of the cave less than three meters away from the scorpion predator, Keiko saw two figures lying motionless on the ground. It was unknown whether they were dead or alive.

She was thinking about whether she should get closer to check, when Jeanne's voice came from her earphones: 

"Second Lieutenant Lee, don't approach it lightly. The Scorpii's sense of hearing is terrifying. If you get within 10 meters of it, not to mention the sound of footsteps, even the sound of your heartbeat can be heard, and it will easily expose your position." 

'How can she predict what I want to do? She is really a worm in my stomach' Keiko couldn't help but click her tongue in wonder. 

Ignoring what Keiko thought, Jeanne continued, "It has poor eyesight and an ordinary sense of smell, so I recommend a swift and lethal attack, finishing them in one move without giving them a space to counter. Unlike a real scorpion, it didn't have an exoskeleton covering its bodies, which meant that although they were prone to attack, their agility and flexibility far outstripped another predator. It can be very dangerous when you give them an opportunity to launch an attack.

"Their biggest weakness was in the neck and abdomen. When you get the opportunity, you should focus your attack on these points. And one more important thing for you to know, they have amazing vitality, so you need to make sure that they really died before you start rescuing the targets."

"Understood, Ma'am!" Keiko's answer was short and concise. 

At this time, Antonio's call request came, and after Keiko was connected, she heard Antonio's report.

"Reporting to Blast, the ten-man squad Numbers 01 to 10 is ready and waiting for the next instruction." 

Keiko thought for a moment and replied, "01 to 07 follow me to distract the monster's attention first, 8,9 and 10 press behind, wait for us to distract the target, immediately go to protect the hostage, and grab the hostage to the exit. Don't let the fighting go to the hostages. Return to help according to the situation." 

Because Keiko was not familiar with the soldiers who were currently under her command, she had just assigned a number to each of them, from 01 to 10, which was registered on each person's combat command map out of convenience.

Among them, Antonio was No. 01, and Keiko's own code name was "Blast", which actually wasn't her self-made name but a special code name of the red emergency rescue front-line commander.

Originally, the code name belonged to Captain Amanda, but now it has been transferred to Keiko. After all, she was the one leading the battle here. 

"The battle starts at 19:29. There are still twenty seconds... Three seconds countdown start now, 3...2...1, GO!"

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Author's note: Sorry I've run out of my stockpiles, so today I only publish one chapter. Hopefully tomorrow it will be back to the regular scheduling, thanks!